Float for cakes of soap.



r No. 676,865. Patented lune 25, 190i.

W. BERRY.

FLOAT FOB CAKES 0F SOAP. plicat ion filed Oct. 18, 1899. Renewed Dec. 8

UNITED STATES PATENT Erica.

lVASI-IINGTON BERRY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FLOAT FOR CAKES OF SOAP..

SPEGIFICA'LIUN forming part of Letters Patent No. 676,865, dated June 25, 1901. Application filed October 18, 1899. Renewed December 3, 1900. Serial No. 38,558. (No model.)

1b 6I/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WASHINGTON BERRY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county oflCook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floats or Inserts for Cakes of Soap, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in inserts or floats for cakes of soap which are especially designed to be located in cakes of soap when molded, and particularly transparent soaps, through which ornamental designs, pictures, or advertising matter imprinted or otherwise placed upon the floats may be readily seen until the soap is en tirely used up.

Heretofore it has been found exceedingly difficult to locate the inserts or floats in such soaps, and particularly the transparent soap, which must be molded in a thin liquid state, first, because of the ditficultyin properly supporting and centering the inserts or floats in the mold, and, second, because of the difficulty in applying thereto any ornamental or advertising matter designed to increase the beauty of the soap or its utility as an advertising medium which the alkali or any fatty acids in the soap would not partially or Wholly obliterate. For these reasons the use of such inserts or floats has proven uncommercial, even when made of wood, which is the preferred material, and such floats have not gone into general use.

The primary object of my invention is to provide an insert or float of such character that it may be easily and quickly centered and so supported in a mold as to prevent its canting or displacement either during the operation of molding the bar of soap about the floats or in cutting up and forming the bar into cakes of soap, as is the, more-common custom.

Another object is to so apply an ornamental design or picture or advertising matter to an insert or float that such device will not only be uninjured by the pressure applied in forming the soap into cakes, but will also be uninjured by the alkali or any fatty acids or chemicals in the soap.

These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are attained by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a plan view of an insert or float embodying my invention, showing an ornamental picture applied thereto. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 represents a transverse section through the insert or float on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 represents an enlarged detail.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring by letter to the accompanying drawings, A indicates the body of the insert or float, which may be of any suitable size,

shape, or configuration, but is preferably disk-like in form and is shown herein as generally circular in plan view, with opposite flat or curved plane surfaces B and having a curved or ornamental edge G. Atthe center of the periphery is formed an annular groove D, into which willfit the flattened end of a pin or other like support projecting from the wall of the mold in which the bar of soap is cast, thus affording a ready means for not only supporting the insert or float in the mold, but also for centering the same in the mold, holding the insert or float against tilting or canting in the molding operation, and for withdrawing the support, so as to leave the insert or float in the soap after the bar has sufficiently cooled.

In order to apply an ornamental design, picture, or advertising matter to these inserts or floats, they are provided on one or both faces B with circular or other shaped depressions E, (more clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4,) into which fit cards or other material F, having imprinted thereon by any process, either in black or any color, as by the lithographing process, the desired design, picture, or advertising matter. To this card is applied a coating G of transparent material of some suitable kind that will resist the action of alkalies, more especially, and preferably also fatty acids and chemicals, that would injure or obliterate the design, picture, or advertising mattersuch, for instance, as celluloid, which may be very cheaply applied and in a very thin coating, so as to in no Wise affect the appearance of the ornamentation. The card F, with its coating G, is made to fit snugly in the circular depressions, so that when firmly pressed therein the edges are protected and the alkali and acids in the soap are prevented from coming in contact with the print upon the card, so that the latter will remain clear and perfect throughout the life of the cake of soap.

I may here state that the shape or configuration of the insert or float is not material t0 the broad idea of my invention, as it may be either circular, oval, square, rectangular, polygonal, diamond, or any other shape in plan View. Its edges maybe rounded; curved, or finished in any other-manner, and its opposite faces may be either curved or flat, so

long as it subserves the intended purpose. 1 Furthermore, the character of the material of i which theinsert 0r float is composed is immai terial and would of course depend upon whether it is designed to be simply an insert to carry the design, picture, or advertising;

matter or Whether it is to also subserve the purpose of a float and by its buoyancy and the displacement of the heavier soap, which will not otherwise float, cause the cake to float i in water.

This quality of floating the soap is especially desirable in many cases-s uch, for instance, as in hotels and other public places, where thesoap is apt to be carelessly Where the insert is to materials. This insert or float as a new article of manufacture is of great importance, because it renders commercial the placing of inserts or floats into transparent soap, so as to permanently display during the life of the cake of soap any design, picture, or advertising matter placed upon the insert or float in the manner previously described.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An insert or float for cakes of soap consisting of a disk-like body having an annular peripheral groove therein to receive a pin by which the float is supported during the operation of molding the soap around the same, substantially'as described.

2. An insert or float for cakes of soap con sisting of a disk-like body composed of a material having less specific gravity than Water and provided with an annular peripheral groove therein to receive a pin by which the float is supported during the operation of molding the soap around the same, substantially as described.

3. As a new article of manufacture, an insert or float for cakes of soap consisting of a disk-like body having a peripheral groove therein and depressions on the opposite faces thereof, cards fitting in said depressions and having designs, pictures or advertising matter applied thereto and a transparent coating of celluloid or equivalent material capable of resisting the action of alkali applied to said cards, substantially as described.

\VASHINGTON BERRY.

WVitnesses:

lyLE. SHIELDS, C. L. WOOD. 

